


It would have been four

by orphan_account



Series: Frannie and Giovanni [2]
Category: In The Cut (2003)
Genre: F/M, Introspection, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-31
Updated: 2013-01-31
Packaged: 2017-11-27 17:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/664453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>He killed three women. That we know of. Son of a bitch. And it would have been four. It would have been Frannie.</i>
</p><p>Malloy's musings while he watches Frannie sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It would have been four

**Author's Note:**

> Rating is for language and references to murder.

I'm lying here, watching her sleep and wondering what the fuck I'm doing still here. The crime scene is still fresh enough, we got to go over it again in light of what Frannie told us, just now. Not because I think she's lying, she's telling the stone cold truth, but since the killer is a cop we better do everything by the fucking book.   
  
So it was Richie. Son of a bitch. Am I shocked? No. I'm a cop, for crying out loud. Am I pissed off? You're damn right I am. Am I surprised? Only a little. I can almost see why he did it. His wife cut off his balls so he took 'em somewhere else, and when he got crazy enough to want to kill his wife he killed those women instead. Three women. That we know of. Son of a bitch.  
  
And it would have been four.  
  
Frannie doesn't move, even when I hold her tighter and get a noseful of the warm smell of her. The booze must have worn off - shit, if running away from me didn't do it, almost getting killed and walking home would have cleared her head all right. I don't know if she's brave or crazy or just lucky as shit. Maybe all three. Lucky to have my jacket with the gun in the pocket.   
  
I want to hear her tell it over again, not like a report, hear her own words. She's all about the words. And I got things I want to tell her, too, about the tattoo and the charm I picked up, ground into the gravel on West Broadway.   
  
Fuck. They took my fucking jacket.  
  
I should probably be at the lighthouse - they're processing the scene. Pictures, chalk lines, fingerprints. T.O.D. My partner - ex-partner - late partner. I should be there, right?  
  
My grandma used to say, funerals aren't for the dead. They're for the living. So right here is where I need to be, with the living, with this crazy woman. I inhale her again and she sighs and nudges her butt back against me, like we fit together for years instead of days.  
  
See, I don't owe Richie a thing. This girl, this woman, right here? I don't owe her anything, either, and she don't owe me. This woman, I'll never see her looking for favors or payback or blame or anything else from me. I knew, when she asked me how to do what I did, so she could do it herself, she said.   
  
She drives me nuts, Frannie. She doesn't screw with my head, she says what she means. I'm not used to that, not out of a woman. Frannie's straight and raw and she may be scared shitless but she'll face it. There's no denial in her. Doesn't make her a saint. Makes her a puzzle. I told her, I could be anything she wants me to be, true, by the way. Now I see she can only be one thing, herself, and full on to boot.  
  
I got a lot I want to show her, do to her. I bet she's got a few ideas of her own. It's making me hard just thinking about it, about her, and she's so soft and warm and she smells so fucking good. Her back is smooth under my palm, I slide my hand down to follow the curve of her butt.   
  
She turns her head and I get her to roll on her back, with those brown eyes and that mousy hair, looking up at me like I belong here.  
  
The first thing she says is, "He kissed me," looking like she doesn't know what to do with that, but I do. Her mouth opens for me and I sink into it, let my tongue wipe out any trace of Richie's, that bastard. I don't mind that he kissed her - I mind that she didn't want it.  
  
I told her, one thing I won't do is beat her up. What I didn't say is what I'd do to anyone who tried.  
  
But then, she already took him out. She don't need me for that.


End file.
